Jonesville, Matanuska-Susitna County, Alaska
October 26, 1937
No. Killed - 14
USBM Final Investigation Report(1.8 Mb)Narrative: An explosion of gas and dust was initiated when a cigarette was lighted with a match. Of the nineteen men in the mine at the time of the explosion, fourteen were killed, one was severely injured and four escaped without injury. It is assumed that methane which had accumulated in the gangway from room 44 to 42, and that this gas was ignited when a miner lit a cigarette.
See more disasters probably caused by smoking articles or open lights.
Note: This disaster is included in both the MSHA Fatality Archive Database and the CDC/NIOSH Disaster List. The latter, however, lists it incorrectly occurring on October 25. According to the USBM Final Investigation Report, this disaster occurred on the 26th. See more possible errors and omissions.
Fire in Alaska Coal Mine Kills 14; Five Escape
The Circleville Herald, Ohio
October 27, 1937
Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 27 -- (UP) -- Fourteen men were reported killed in an explosion that set fire to the Evan Jones coal mine at Jonesville, 70 miles north of here last night.
Z. J. Loussac, vice president of the company, returned here from the mine and reported that the bodies of six men were recovered and there was no hope for eight other men trapped in the workings. Five miners escaped after the blast, he said.
Loussac reported that the six bodies recovered were so badly mangled and burned that he doubted if they would be identified. He said that the fire was extinguished late last night but that the mine suffered heavy damage.
The cause of the explosion was not learned. First reports of the accident came from Harry Drake, mine foreman, who telephoned here asking that nurses, physicians, and medical supplies be sent to the mine. A rescue crew went to the mine in two gasoline-powered railway cars.
The mine, producing soft coal, sells its product to the Alaska railroad.
